1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to beverage dispensing systems for dispensing beverages such as carbonated beverages. More particularly, the present invention relates to a beverage dispensing system with a dispenser head capable of dispensing plural beverages.
2. Description of the Related Art
Often, at restaurants or other locations, a beverage is formed from a mixture of a concentrate and water. Depending on the particular beverage being formed, the water may or may not be carbonated. An advantage of dispensing beverages in this form is that the concentrate containers and water supply typically occupy significant less space than is otherwise required to store the same volume of beverage in individual containers. Moreover, this dispensing equipment eliminates the need for an establishment to have to deal with the waste formed by the empty individual containers.
A typical beverage dispenser includes a head from which a nozzle extends. A pump is usually employed to force at least the concentrate to the head. Internal to the head are valves that regulate the discharge of concentrate and the water. In order to dispense a particular beverage, a control member associated with the head, such as a lever or a button, is actuated. A control circuit that monitors the state of the control member actuates the pump and selectively opens the valves to cause the simultaneous discharge of concentrate and water. The two liquids mix upon discharge and in a container to form the desired beverage. One such dispensing head and nozzle is disclosed in the U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/412,681, BEVERAGE FORMING AND DISPENSING SYSTEM, filed Apr. 14, 2003, U.S. Patent Pub. No. 2004/0084475 A1, published May 6, 2004, incorporated herein by reference.
Known dispensing heads work reasonably well for the purposes for which they are designed. However, there is a limitation associated with the design of known dispensing heads. Each dispensing head can only discharge a single concentrate and water blended beverage. Consequently, if an establishment wants to provide a large variety of blended beverages, it is presently required to employ a dispensing unit that has a large number of dispensing heads; one for each beverage. These multi-headed dispensing units occupy a significant amount of counter space. At some establishments, providing counter space needed for large-sized dispensing units significantly reduces space that may be desirable or required for other uses. Consequently, given the potential loss of counter space, sometimes establishments do not offer its patrons the variety of beverages that it could otherwise offer.
Moreover, some beverages are formed from base components that are only marginally different from the components forming other beverages. For example, there is an increasing consumer demand for lightly carbonated beverages. These beverages are formed from water that is less carbonated than the water used to form traditional soda-type soft drinks For both technical reasons and space reasons, it has proven difficult to provide a beverage dispensing unit with carbonation equipment that can essentially simultaneously provide streams of carbonated water in which the levels of carbonation are different. This is why, to date, it has not been practical to provide a dispensing unit that is able to provide both highly carbonated and lightly carbonated beverages.
It has further been noted that the conventional nozzle assemblies include a rather cumbersome arrangement of numerous apertures in several discs or plates, defining plural chambers. The apertures are spaced apart and not aligned, thereby providing a baffle arrangement for fluid flow therethrough, and as a result, this baffle configuration reduces the amount of the pressure of the carbonated water as it passes through the nozzle. In some examples, the non-carbonated water pressure is reduced from about 80 p.s.i. to atmospheric pressure. Under normal conditions, sudden depressurization of the carbonated fluids can cause undesirable excessive frothing, sometimes referred to as carbonation breakout. One or more baffle arrangements is provided so as to reduce pressure of the carbonated water in several stages. However, manufacturing and assembly of the several disks required to assemble a multi-stage baffle configuration are somewhat cumbersome, and a more efficient method of depressurizing, perhaps also accommodating for multiple sources of different base components, has been found to be desirable.
Similarly, different beverages are formed from concentrates that are only slightly different from each other. For example, customers are increasing interested in enjoying beverages that include a supplemental flavor in addition to a base flavor. One popular supplemental flavor is cherry. For example, some consumers enjoy cola-flavored beverages with cherry flavoring and others lemon lime-flavored beverages with cherry flavoring. In presently known dispensing units, in order to provide customers with different beverages, and the supplemental-flavored versions of these beverages, it is necessary to provide a dispensing head for each of these beverages. As discussed above, this results in providing a counter-top assembly that is very large. Moreover, this would also require a large volume of behind-the-counter space in order to store the different types of concentrate that are required.